Larry Shenk, Vice President of Alumni Relations, shares his notes, quotes and anecdotes from the world of baseball.

Rescheduled for Sunday Night

As everyone knows by now, tonight’s game was rained out and rescheduled for 7:35 on Sunday night. The Phillies and Brewers will play tomorrow at 3:55 p.m. (FOX) and at 1:35 Sunday afternoon and wrap up the four-game series on Sunday night.

Since it is the final series of the season between the two teams, Major League Baseball and umpire crew chief Dale Scott had the jurisdiction to make the call as to whether the game could be played because of the weather.

The process of rescheduling the game involved both teams, MLB and the players association.

Pro ScoutingWith rain drops falling, two conference calls were going on at the same time (3:15) this afternoon in the baseball administration offices at Citizens Bank Park.

Chuck LaMar, Director of Professional Scouting, was the “master of ceremonies” of a call with Phillies pro scouts. Pat Gillick, Ruben Amaro, Mike Arbuckle and Mike Ondo participated from the ballpark offices.

For the last two weeks of the season, Chuck is assigning two scouts to the teams in the running for postseason. Hank King, the advance scout, and Charlie Manuel’s staff have plenty of reports on how to pitch hitters and what to look for from enemy hurlers.

The more eyes and ears, the better. Also, fresh information is vital.

The scouts will remain with their respective teams until those teams are eliminated. Then, the scouts are requested to file their reports to the Citizens Bank Park offices.

Scouts following a team that advances to a postseason game against the Phillies, will come to Philadelphia for a face-to-face meeting with Charlie and his staff. Presently, the Phillies are not staffing the Mets because these two teams can’t meet in a Division Series.

Scouts that follow NL teams that are eliminated when then shift to American League clubs.

Winning the FlipsAcross the hall in Gillick’s office, I was dispatched to represent the Phillies in a coin toss for potential tie games. The American League conference call was at 3 and we were 20 minutes later.

Roy Krasik, Senior Director, Major League Baseball Operations, conducted this call that included representatives from the Diamondbacks, Cubs, Astros, Dodgers, Brewers, Mets, Cardinals and us.

There were nine different NL scenarios. We were involved in four. The fist team shown in each combination (Mets vs. Phillies, for example) has the choice to make the call or defer it to the other team.

My role was simple, be quite on two and call the shots on two. Being quiet worked well as we will be the home team if we are playing the Mets (Division tie) or Brewers (wild card tie). Always looking ahead, I chose heads for Phillies vs. Astros and Phillies vs. Cardinals (wild card ties) and heads it was in each case.

Bottom line: we are home for any postseason tie games, which is great news for our passionate fans.

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